English Chess Forum

A record 142 players entered the 3rd e2e4 event at High Wycombe. For the first time, all sections were FIDE rated so all English players were Gold ECF members. Forum success in the Challengers!

There will be 3 of these events next year as it proves popular both with players and with the hotel.

Open

Rank Name Flags Score Fed. M/F Rating TPR W-We Prize
1st= GM Hebden, Mark L Leicester 4.5 ENG M 2529 2681 0.74 £300
1st= GM Arkell, Keith C 4NCL Cheddleton 4.5 ENG M 2456 2593 0.59 £300
3rd= FM Rees, Ioan Wales 4 WLS M 2254 2464 0.85 £50
3rd= Varnam, Liam D Sambuca Sharks 4 ENG M 2118 2440 1.48 £50
Over 2050 Hasman, Cengiz Wood Green 3.5 TUR M 2139 2285 0.79 £50
U2050-= Moss, Guy Wycome and Hazl 2.5 ISR M 1927 2107 1 £25
U2050= Wang, Xingliang Anna Coley 2.5 ENG F 1827 2044 1 £25


Challengers

Rank Name Flags Score Fed. M/F Rating TPR W-We Prize
1st Burrows, Nick Coley 4.5 ENG M 1942 * 2152 2 £300
2nd= De Coverly, Roger D Bourne End 4 ENG M 2035 2124 0.22 £112.50
2nd= Wilson, Matthew R Devon 4 ENG M 1819 1922 0.63 £112.50
Over 1850 Othman, Mustapha Brighton & Hove 3.5 NGR M 1871 1999 0.53 £35
1750-1850 Giles, Yasmin Leisham 3.5 ENG F 1803 2003 0.8 £35
U1750 Haridas, Girinath Dulich College 3.5 ENG M 1741 1945 0.81 £35

Major

Rank Name Flags Score Fed. M/F Rating TPR W-We Prize
1st= Sandercock, E Barry Buckinghamshire 4.5 ENG M 1749 2295 0.79 £200
1st= Finn, Peter Wycombe & Hazle 4.5 ENG M 1594 * 0 0 £200
3rd= Macdonald, John Kings Head 4 ENG M 1722 * 2342 0 £35
3rd= Ressel, Eva Chessmates 4 ENG F 1446 1681 0.58 £35
Over 1650 Grange, David Drunken Knights 3.5 ENG M 1706 * 1749 0 £35
1550-1650 Wang, Alyssa Cardiff 4 WLS F 1551 1951 1.5 £35
U1550 Reid, Conor J P Braunstone 4 ENG M 1330 * 2402 1.5 £35

Also very encouraging to see twenty female players in the event.

Sean Hewitt wrote: 3rd= Varnam, Liam D Sambuca Sharks 4 ENG M 2118 2440 1.48 £50

Who gets the British Championship place? I think Liam is already qualified as Berkshire Champion ( at the Bucks & Berks Congress)

Sean Hewitt wrote: U2050= Wang, Xingliang Anna Coley 2.5 ENG F 1827 2044 1 £25

Challengers

Rank Name Flags Score Fed. M/F Rating TPR W-We Prize
1st Burrows, Nick Coley 4.5 ENG M 1942 * 2152 2 £300

Presumably that's Cowley and Swiss Master's aversion to w's.

Paul Cooksey wrote:

LawrenceCooper wrote:Also very encouraging to see twenty female players in the event.

Yes. Does e2e4 routinely have higher female player numbers than the average?

Women do like a nice hotel

Burrows, Nick Coley

My club was listed as 'Coley' instead of the correct 'Cowley' on the day to day pairings and leader boards, but then i remembered the 'w' glitch and so didn't say anything.

Well e2e4 made it plain that they wanted more women at their events by offering free entry for the first tournament. This offer certainly made Penny Wood and myself look at the tournaments they were doing when we decided to enter something last year. E2e4 have a good reputation though so we would probably have looked anyway. It was just nice to feel positively welcomed. We played again this year and really enjoyed it despite playing badly and ending up paired against each other in the last round.
The hotel is good the food OK and the Saturday buffet was excellent. The playing conditions are the best I've come across, so I'm not surprised they had a big entry of women and men.

michele clack wrote: The playing conditions are the best I've come across, so I'm not surprised they had a big entry of women and men.

Well, yes, but the lighting was appalling for the top boards of both the Open and the Challengers. Mark had a standard lamp alongside to help, but no such luck for the top of the Challengers. Nick Burrows has already posted some highlights of the final top board game, but towards the end, they were almost playing by memory. It's a fault with the room, the air con units are placed where there needed to be overhead lighting.

Yes, the layout of the room was unfortunate. The top boards were placed at the quieter end of the room, but as roger said there were no lights above our board. It was very dark, and difficult to concentrate. It was literally in the worst place in the entire room! However, credit to Sean was that he did notice, and came and moved the lamp when the top open game had finished.

Sean really does do a tremendous job to make these events a pleasure for everybody to play in. We don't want 20 female players, we want 50% of the field to be female

I know it bores everyone to tears that Mark and I shared she spoils, , but perhaps more interestingly my book more or less begins with Mark and I sharing first place at the Atkins memorial in ...1979, 130+ encounters earlier

All Sean's tournaments are most enjoyable and High Wycombe was no exception. I was luckly enough to be playing my games in one of the smaller rooms where the lighting and conditions were perfect.
Now looking forward to Basingstoke !